Wawapek Preserve

Discover

Wawapek Preserve combines woodland with the surviving shape of an estate garden. Above Cold Spring Harbor, the 32-acre property offers mature hardwood forest, steep ravines, woodland trails and formal planting features. It is a useful place to look at how a small preserved landscape can hold both natural cover and the traces of deliberate garden-making.

The preserve was once part of the de Forest family's estate of more than 600 acres. In 2006, heirs of Robert Weeks de Forest expressed interest in preserving part of the property, which had been considered for division into thirteen house lots. A partnership involving public agencies, conservation organizations and 358 private donors enabled North Shore Land Alliance to acquire and permanently protect Wawapek in 2015. The larger historical estate and today's preserve are different extents, so use the current map when walking.

Mature hardwood woodland accounts for more than 60 percent of the preserve. Its steep ravines are part of the reason to pay attention to the route beneath your feet rather than assume an estate garden is level throughout. Follow the woodland trails and let the changing canopy provide a contrast to the more formal planting areas. A short outing can concentrate on those transitions without requiring an invented circuit distance.

The garden features include a historic yew round, specimen trees and pollinator planting. In 2018, native trumpet honeysuckle replaced wisteria at the trellis. Highbush blueberries also appear in the operator's account. These details give the garden a specific planting story, but the presence of fruit does not establish permission to pick it. Leave flowers and berries in place and observe the seasonal display you actually encounter.

The greenhouse adds another thread of estate history. Thought to date from the early 1900s, it was commissioned for the de Forest family's agricultural operation from Hitchings and Company. Its construction date is approximate, rather than a precise year established by the visitor page. The structure later deteriorated, with broken glass, rotting planting beds and vegetation growing through the floor, before restoration work began.

The Land Alliance describes that work as a careful process of removing damaged material, saving usable glass, repainting the roof, repairing window frames and installing cedar planting beds. A grant supported the project. Look at the greenhouse as an example of ongoing preservation, while checking whether it can currently be entered. A restoration account does not by itself make a working structure an unrestricted visitor exhibit.

Planting at the Mowbray Lane entrance provides a more recent layer. Pollinator gardens were added beside the driveway, along with native red cedars and white pines, and a split-rail fence improved the entrance edge. The operator also describes planned interpretive signs. Their proposal should not be treated as proof that all signs are already installed, so use the information currently available on site.

Parking is listed on the property; check the latest visitor information before departure. Give yourself time for both the maintained garden details and the woodland, and keep within the public boundary rather than following a feature onto neighboring land. Foxes and box turtles are mentioned as residents, but sightings remain a matter of chance. Wawapek's interest is already present in its layers of trees, garden design and conservation history, whether or not an animal appears during the walk.

Fun facts

1. Wawapek Preserve protects 32 acres above Cold Spring Harbor.
2. The current preserve was once part of the de Forest family’s much larger estate.
3. A public-private partnership protected Wawapek in 2015 with support from 358 private donors.
4. Mature hardwood woodland covers more than 60 percent of the preserve.

Read the official sources →

Capture

1. Contrast permitted garden details with the woodland canopy.
2. Photograph the greenhouse from an allowed position without entering work areas.

Social

Wawapek Preserve protects 32 acres above Cold Spring Harbor. #Cre8Travel

The current preserve was once part of the de Forest family’s much larger estate. #Cre8Travel

A public-private partnership protected Wawapek in 2015 with support from 358 private donors. #Cre8Travel

Mature hardwood woodland covers more than 60 percent of the preserve. #Cre8Travel

Native trumpet honeysuckle replaced wisteria at Wawapek’s trellis in 2018. #Cre8Travel

The historic greenhouse is thought to date from the early 1900s. #Cre8Travel

Greenhouse restoration included saved glass, repaired frames and new cedar planting beds. #Cre8Travel

Wawapek’s formal garden features and woodland trails offer different subjects within one preserve. #Cre8Travel

Hashtags

1. #Cre8Travel
2. #NewYork
3. #WawapekPreserve

Sources & visitor information

• Source — Wawapek Preserve
• Source — Wawapek Preserve
• Source — Wawapek Preserve